Meet our Fellows: 2025-2026 Cohort

Alejandra Barrero-Castillero, MD, MPH

Dr. Barrero-Castillero (Ale) is an attending neonatologist and health services researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. She currently chairs the NICU Discharge Planning Committee since June 2022. Additionally, she serves as an attending neonatologist at Boston Children’s Hospital in the NICU and the Growth and Developmental Support Programs (GraDS), where she focuses on the long-term neurodevelopmental follow-up of former preterm infants after discharge. Her clinical work and academic pursuits are dedicated to addressing healthcare disparities and developing interventions to reduce them, particularly for immigrant children and their families during the NICU stay, as they prepare for discharge, and as they transition home. Dr. Barrero-Castillero is also a proud international medical graduate, Latina, and mother of three. 

Luis Isea Mercado, MD

Dr. Isea is an academic Internal Medicine Physician, currently serving as Assistant Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at AdventHealth Orlando. He completed medical school in Caracas, Venezuela, then immigrated to the US in 2015 to pursue his IM residency training in AdventHealth Orlando. He is actively involved in advocacy and physician well-being, taking leadership roles in the ACP Florida Chapter, NHMA Florida Chapter, and alternate delegate of the IMG Section of the American Medical Association. He is passionate about increasing awareness of health inequities affecting underrepresented minorities and advocating to increase fair IMG representation and diversity in the physician workforce. He enjoys building Lego sets. 

Cristina Mariella Lanata, MD 

Dr. Lanata earned her medical degree from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, where she trained at public hospitals in Lima, providing care to underserved communities within a resource-constrained healthcare system. Witnessing the devastating outcomes of untreated autoimmune diseases fueled her passion for rheumatology. After relocating to the United States, Dr. Lanata completed her residency at Georgetown University, where she was appointed Chief Resident at Washington Hospital Center. She then pursued specialized rheumatology training at UCSF, further solidifying her reputation as an exceptional clinician and researcher.

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Dr. Lanata's research interests center on the complex interactions between environmental exposures, epigenetics, and genetics in shaping the outcomes of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). She has dedicated her career to understanding how these factors contribute to disease severity across diverse populations, with a particular focus on Latino and other underrepresented groups. With extensive experience in patient cohorts and population-based studies on genetics and epigenetics, Dr. Lanata continues to drive translational research in underserved populations, advancing our understanding of the genomic factors that underpin autoimmunity.

 Suzi Lopez, MD

Dr. Susan Lopez is the daughter of Mexican immigrants; she grew up in the Chicago neighborhood of Little Village and the Town of Cicero with her siblings and mother. She has a degree in Latino Studies from the University of Michigan and attended medical school at the UIC College of Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine training at Rush. She is now an Assistant Professor in the Divisions of Hospital Medicine and Community and Global Health Equity. She works to recruit and support learners to meet the needs of Chicago’s diverse patient population in her role on the Executive Admissions Committee for RMC. She is passionate about training medical professionals about bias and its impact on medical care and health equity in her role as Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Graduate Medical Education. She works to create a supportive and collaborative environment as a faculty advisor to several resident and medical student organizations, including the Latino Medical Student Association at Rush.  

John Ernest McKinnon, MD, MSc, FIDSA 

John Ernest McKinnon, M.D., M.Sc., FIDSA is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Director for Investigator Initiated Translational Research at the Medical University of South Carolina. He is Clinical Associate Professor for the Global Affairs department at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. He has previously served in the Divisions of Infectious Diseases at Henry Hospital in Detroit, Michigan and at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA. He received his M.D. degree at the University of Panama Medical School, Rep. of Panama, and completed his training in Internal Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, MI. Dr. McKinnon was appointed to the T-32 Infectious Disease Training Grant for physician fellows, was selected for a Bristol-Myers-Squibb Virology HIV Research Fellow award and completed a Master of Science through the Clinical Research Training Program at the University of Pittsburgh during his fellowship. Dr. McKinnon was selected as one of the first scholars selected for the Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Scholar Program, a KL-2 Mentorship Grant, part of the NIH Roadmap initiative. He was recipient of several grants and awards including R21, Gates Foundation and others to further his work focusing on evaluating HIV-1 treatment strategies and care, COVID-19, opportunistic infections in immunosuppressed populations, translational laboratory research and other projects. His research has included active participation in designing and conduction of clinical trials through the Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group, INSIGHT, investigator-initiated proposals for foundations and industry, multiple clinical trials as well as NIH funded projects. Dr. McKinnon is a fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America and has over forty peer-reviewed publications and over 60 abstracts and invited presentations. 
Dr. McKinnon remains involved in NIH funded translational research, industry studies in HIV and other diseases, and in clinical vaccine research.  

Ivel C. Morales, MD, MPH 

Dr. Morales is a Family Medicine physician with a passion for community medicine, residency education, and health equity. 
 
Dr. Morales grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, and moved to Miami in my late teens after completing one year of medical school there. Dr. Morales then earned a degree in Biology from Florida International University before pursuing my medical education at the University of Michigan. She completed her residency in Family and Community Medicine at UCSF. Since then, I have worked in both academic and community-based settings. In San Francisco, I worked for the San Francisco Department of Public Health community clinics and at UCSF. In Philadelphia, she served for several years as the medical director of Project HOME’s Hub of Hope and Prevention Point clinics, which provide primary care at homeless drop-in sites. Through this work, she developed expertise in trauma-informed care and substance use treatment. 
 
Currently, Dr. Morales is an Associate Residency Program Director at Thomas Jefferson University, where she oversee community medicine experiences and mentor trainees. 

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Through clinical care and medical education, she is committed to training future physicians to serve marginalized communities with compassion and cultural humility.

Franklyn Rocha Cabrero, MD  

Dr. Rocha Cabrero (neurologist, leader, activist, mentor, writer, son, brother, husband, father, he/him) is the CEO/Owner of IRD Neuroanalysis Inc , a professional medical corporation professional that provides outstanding neurological clinical care for patients from vulnerable and diverse communities. He practices as a neurohospitalist and clinical neurophysiologist providing remote interpretation. Dr. Rocha Cabrero has extensive experience in non-profit leadership, organized medicine, delegation work, mentorship, and community advocacy. Currently, he is a member of the Physician Advisory Council for LMSA Southeast region. He has experience in local and executive hospital leadership, a state and special interest advocacy delegations that focus on improving underserved patients populations. He is part of AAN Education Committee (2019-25) and Council of Young Physicians for NHMA (2020-present). He is board member of California Physician Alliance, a universal healthcare advocacy organization. 

Annelys Roque, MD 

Dr. Annelys Roque is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She completed her undergraduate studies in Biology at Harvard College, followed by two formative years working in an HIV laboratory at the National Institutes of Health. Following the NIH, she returned to her home state of Florida to complete medical school at the University of Florida, College of Medicine. She ventured out west to complete Internal Medicine Residency and Infectious Diseases Fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco before returning to the east coast to accept a faculty position at Emory in 2021. At Emory, she currently serves as the Associate Medical Director of the Emory Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. Her clinical expertise is as an infectious diseases physician providing care to vulnerable people living with HIV and those at risk of acquiring HIV, which include a growing number of Latinos living in the Atlanta Metro Area. She is a proud bilingual and bi-cultural Latina physician who strives every day to bridge the care gap for those living with HIV and give a voice to those that are often marginalized and forgotten. She is also a proud Cuban immigrant, wife, mom to human and furry kids, annoying little sister, above average cook, and so-so distance runner.  

Juan Santamaria, MD, FACS, FSSO 

Dr. Juan Santamaria is a surgical oncologist and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center (FPBCC) in Omaha, NE. Born in Detroit and raised in Panama, he earned his medical degree from the University of Navarra in Spain, completed general surgery residency at the University of Texas, Houston, and a surgical oncology fellowship at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Los Angeles. He joined UNMC and FPBCC as a faculty surgeon in 2020. 
 
Dr. Santamaria's dual mission is to become an NCI-funded surgeon-scientist and to improve breast cancer care for minorities while increasing clinical trial participation among underserved populations through a lay peer navigator program. His research lab focuses on breast cancer brain metastasis, and he has authored over 35 peer-reviewed publications, securing more than $800,000 in federal, state, foundation, and institutional grants. In recognition of his efforts, he received the 2021 UNMC Faculty Diversity Award and the 2023 NIH/NCI Early-Stage Surgeon Scientist Program grant. 
 
As founder of the Nebraska Breast Health Navigator Program (NBHNP), Dr. Santamaria has secured over $250,000 in funding to eliminate barriers to care for minority breast cancer patients. NBHNP trains lay peer navigators—cancer survivors from diverse backgrounds—to help patients access quality care and clinical trials. 
 
In 2023, he expanded the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) Nebraska chapter, revitalized UNMC’s Latino Medical Student Association, and won the Nebraska Medical Association Young Physician of the Year award. In 2024, he became Clinical Assistant Director of Community Outreach and Engagement at FPBCC, working to increase clinical trial access and train Clinical Trials Community Scientists and Navigators to bridge gaps in cancer care. 

Jennifer V. Vargas, MD 

Dr. Jennifer Vargas is a family medicine physician who currently practices at Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center. She is a graduate of the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara School of Medicine.

As part of her medical training, she completed a pre-internship program at New York Medical College. She completed her family medicine residency through the UCR School of Medicine at Riverside County Regional Medical Center. After residency, she joined Kaiser and has been involved in many different leadership positions, including Latino Champion for Diabetes and Colon Cancer screening, Alcohol Use Screening Champion, Substance Use Disorder Champion and most recently, Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Physician Director.

Aside from working in clinic, Dr. Vargas has combined her passion for education, mentorship and clinical expertise by providing bilingual community education workshops on colon cancer screening and diabetes education for Kaiser Permanente members and non-members and is a presenter for the Hippocrates Circle Program. During her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and 2 children, traveling the world, practicing yoga and running half-marathons.